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John
Storm from IPC, Eagle & Battle Picture Weekly Comics, was a British Army Captain, turned mercenary, who
had his arm bitten by Tarantula, what almost killed him, save for
amputation.
Storm Force were a top secret paramilitary organization led by The Mole, a wheelchair-bound genius, and including John Storm (a former mercenary who had a bionic left arm which he could replace with a variety of weapons), Stiletto, Griffin, Magnus, Mikron and Porcupine. From their hidden base somewhere in Britain, they fought an endless war against the forces of evil, and in particular against Tarantula and his Web Masters.
Storm Force debuted in Battle on 24th January 1987, a replacement for the then recently discontinued Action Force strip, and later appeared in Eagle following Battle's cancellation.
ABOUT
STORM FORCE
Purpose: To combat international terrorism
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Tarantula and his Web Masters, Kruise, Bruno Demonski
Base of Operations: Great Britain
First Appearance: Battle Storm Force IPC, 24th January 1987
Eagle comics
History: Storm Force is a top secret organisation devoted to fighting evil in the world. Run by the Mole from a secret base
located in central Britain, it comprises specialist operatives with incredible fighting skills.
Each team member is an expert in their own field. The current combat leader is John Storm, a former mercenary recruited following the death of his
predecessor.
They fought a number of bizarre foes, but the constant thorn in their side was Tarantula and his Web Masters.
Comments: For over three years Action Force had been the mainstay of the Battle Comic. And then, with little notice, the license to do a comic based on these toy-inspired
characters was given to another company.
Almost overnight Battle reverted to all war strips. But for the readers who
had been buying the comic those last few years this left a void, and Storm Force appeared a month and a half later to fill that void.
The Mole - mastermind
John Storm -
Stiletto -
Magnus -
Griffin -
Mikron -
Porcupine -
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with Stormwatch, U.N. superhero team or any other Storm characters Action Force, toy-inspired characters who in turn inspired this team.
http://www.toonhound.com/fleetway.htm
https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_Force
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/storm.htm
      
COMIC
BRITISH SUPER HEROES - A TO Z
Black
Knight, Dane Whitman (British, American, Ebony Blade Cursed Sword
Strong, Marvel)
Blade, Eric Brooks (Vampire Hunter Born Soho, London MI-13* [Wesley Snipes] British SuperHero,
Marvel)
Captain Avalon, Brian Braddock (Protects mystical Omniverse, Britain Corps,
Excalibur, Marvel)
Captain Midlands,
'Rambling' Sid Ridley (British Army Super Soldier Program MI-13*)
Dark
Angel, Shevaun Haldane (Psylocke, British Superhero Darkmoor, England,
Marvel Comics)
Dr Druid, Anthony Ludgate (Raised England, studied magic Harvard Medical Degree,
British Superhero)
Dr. Faiza Hussain (England, London - Sword Of Arthur
Excalibur Stone [Marvel Disney])
Elsa
Bloodstone, Monster Hunter (Marvel Comics)
Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock (Super heroine Captain Britain, mutant Psylocke Amulet of Right
Excalibur Knights)
John
Storm - Storm Force, ex army captain, soldier turned mercenary with
cybernetic arm 1987 Eagle comics
Ka-Zar,
Lord Kevin Plunder (British Royal Heritage England [Tarzan] Raised By Mutant Sabretooth Tiger
Zabu)
Motormouth and Killpower Harley Davis & Julius Mullarkey, Marvel UK Stories British Super Heroes Mys-Tech Organization
Pete Wisdom (British Secret Agent Mutant Mi-13*
Excalibur X-Force S.T.R.I.K.E.)
Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew (London, England - Avengers Hydra
S.H.I.E.LD British
Superhero, Marvel)
Spitfire, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth Crichton (Vampiric Speedster Marvel Comics,
Immortal MI-13*)
Union Jack, Joseph 'Joey' Chapman (Patriotic Legacy Hero World War One [Liverpool, England] Marvel)
I.P.C. AND FLEETWAY
HISTORY
Through the late 1950s and early 1960s Cecil Harmsworth King, chairman of the
"Mirror
Group" of newspapers, oversaw the buying up of several of Britain's magazine publishers, including Amalgamated Press Ltd in 1959, which he renamed Fleetway Publications after their London headquarters, Fleetway House.
In 1961 he purchased Odhams Press. In 1963 he created a parent company, International Publishing Corporation, or IPC, under which each company continued to operate semi-autonomously.
In 1987 (after several management changes), IPC's comics rights for titles and characters created after January 1970 (such as 2000A.D. plus 26 specified characters from Buster - which predated 1970 but was still being published in 1987 with said characters actively appearing), were transferred to Fleetway, which was then sold to Pergamon Holdings, who in turn sold them on in 1991 to Egmont UK. (Egmont subsequently sold 2000AD and its spin-off title, Judge Dredd Megazine, to Rebellion, who continue to publish both title to the current day; additionally, in 2016, Egmont sold the remainder of the old Fleetway rights to Rebellion.)
Meanwhile (and returning to the 1990s) IPC sold the rights to Dan Dare and any other strips that originated in either edition of the Eagle to the Dan Dare Corporation, then, in 1997,
IPC was bought out by venture capital group Cinven, who sold the company on in 2001 to
Time
Warner. Though IPC is today mostly a magazine publisher, through fellow Time Warner company D.C. Comics and its subsidiary Wildstorm, a number of IPC characters were revived in 2006 via the miniseries Albion, Thunderbolt Jaxon and Battler Britton. Reprint volumes were issued collecting the stories of some of the characters featured in Albion - a general volume, Albion Origins, plus solo volumes for the Spider (titled King of Crooks to avoid
trademark issues with the Pulp era Spider) and Steel Claw.
Publications: 2000A.D.; Buster; Eagle; Jag Speed, Tiger
CHARACTERS:
The Amazing Three;
Adam Eterno; Atlanta; Birdman; Boxatricks; Buytonic Boy; Blue Wizard; Chicken;
Captain Hurricane;
The Cat Girl; Cursitor Doom; Doctor Sin; Dolmann; Dan Dare; Fishboy; Galaxus;
Gadget Man; Gimmick-Kid; Gargan;
The Hand; Maxwell Hawke; Jason Hyde; The Indestructible Man; Janus Stark; The
Jet Skaters; Johnny Alpha;
Justine (The Justice);
Jimmi from Jupiter; Jane's Jeannie; Kelly's Eye; Kid Chameleon; Leopard from Lime Street;
Mytek the Mighty; Maroc the Mighty; Mekon; Minnie's Mixer; Maisie's Magic Eye;
Oakman; Oddball Oates; The Phantom Viking;
Robot Archie; Sintek; Spare Part Kit; Spellbinder; Super Dad; The Spider; Spooktacular Seven;
The Steel Claw;
Steel
Commando; Strongman; Tanya; Thunderbolt the Avenger; Tri-Man; Typhoon Tracy;
The Trickster; Toymaker;
Von Hoffman; Vanessa from Venus; Volger; The Waxer; Jack Wonder; Wild Wonders;
X-Ray Specs.
BEFORE
THE INTERNET, PLAYSTATION & X-BOX
Before the internet, before home computers, the PlayStation, Lara Croft,
Buffy, Pokemon et al, there was the wonderful world of Fleetway's British fun comics. More playful than the Beano and Dandy, with a cheekier edge and a sillier grin, the Fleetway
weeklies were a top-quality collection of two-colour strip cartoons. Whoopee!, Krazy, Cheeky, Jackpot, Monster Fun and the rest were launched with free giveaways, they grew, merged, passed their strips around and installed themselves as a nostalgic highlight of our wasted youth.
For 52 weeks a year these titles would be pushed through British letterboxes. Then there were the Summer Specials - bumper editions of your favourites during the long August break. And then, why then there were those annuals. Every Christmas you'd get one from your Auntie or Uncle - that familiar flat
pressie, half an inch thick, with that certain weight - you knew what it was
soon as you clapped eyes on the wrapping. But which title was it likely to be?
Nostalgia aside, what is amazing looking back from today is the technical quality of these comics. No, not the pixellated printing which frequently smudged or double-blurred a strip into some insane 3-D image, but the actual drawing talent on show. The Fleetway artists frequently drew several strips in different weekly titles, others were drawn by several different artists over the years, all to amazingly tight deadlines, and whilst the actual concepts on display may have suffered from a certain familiarity (witness Ivor Lott & Tony Broke, Fit Fred & Sick Sid etc, etc), the
artwork remained consistently A-grade. The artists themselves were often unaccredited apart from the occasional pen-name or initials etched in to the background detail - what a world away
from the "stars" of Marvel and the DC universe.
Looking back from these cynical times, it's easy to dismiss these comics' naivety, their cultural and social blindness. The Fleetway titles wrapped
kids up in a snug blanket of playground pranks, red-faced park attendants, and slipper-wielding parents - a world all but gone now in these more aware times.
We actually feel a little sorry for kids nowadays. There's just no time for them to wallow in the joy of being a kid. And outside of that old stalwart the
Beano, the only comics available for the modern ten year old are the hard-edged shades of 2000ad, Spawn and the X-Men, or those tie-ins to the latest toddler franchise.
TIMELINE
1960
- Buster launched
1961 - Radio Fun merges.
1962 - Film Fun merges.
1965 - Big One merges.
1968 - Giggle merges too.
1969 - Whizzer & Chips launched
1970 - Cor!! launched
1971 - Knockout launched (Jet merges with Buster)
1973 - Shiver & Shake launched (Knockout merges with Whizzer & Chips)
1974 - Whoopee! launched (Cor!! merges with Buster... Shiver & Shake merges with Whoopee!)
1975 - Monster Fun launched
1976 - Krazy is launched (Monster Fun merges with Buster)
1977 - Cheeky is launched
1978 - Krazy merges with Whizzer & Chips.
1979 - Jackpot is launched
1980 - Cheeky merges with Whoopee!
1982 - Jackpot merges with Buster... WOW! is launched
1983 - WOW! merges with Whoopee!... School Fun launched
1984 - School Fun merges with Buster.
1985 - Whoopee! merges with Whizzer & Chips.
1986 - Oink! is launched.
1987 - Fleetway's Nipper merges with Buster.
1988 - Oink! merges with Buster.
1990 - Whizzer & Chips merges with Buster.
1999 - Buster is now an all-reprint affair - bar J Edward Oliver's
contributions.
Jan 4th 2000 - Buster is folded within a whisker of its 40th Birthday, bringing the Fleetway fun days to an
end.
MARVEL
COMICS US SUPERHEROES - A TO Z
Ant
Man,
Captain
America,
Doctor
Strange,
Hulk,
Iron
Man,
Spider-Man,
Thor, and
Wolverine,
*
Military
Intelligence, Section 13 (MI-13), is the United Kingdom's (fictional) agency set up to deal with paranormal occurrences and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside MI5,
MI6, GCHQ, and DI. MI13 is directed by the JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee). The service is directed to protect Britain from mystical, extra-terrestrial and
superhuman threats.
HISTORICAL LEGENDS
Saint George is based on a soldier in the Roman army who was martyred in 303 CE (Patron saint of knights)
Sir Galahad - Knight of the Round Table 12-15th century CE literature (King
Arthur legend)
Siegfried - Brunhilde & King Gunter (Kriemhild, Burgundian [Nibelung] princess) c. 1200 CE
RECORDED
HISTORICAL KNIGHTS
Robert
Guiscard - 'The Crafty' (c. 1015-1085 CE) [Norman]
Rodrigo
Díaz de Vivar - 'El Cid' (1043-1099 CE)
Godfrey
of Bouillon (circa 1060-1100)
Sir William Marshal - 'The Greatest Knight that Ever Lived' (c. 1146-1219
CE)
Richard I - 'The Lionhearted' (1157-1199 CE) King of England from 1189 to
1199 CE
Sir William Wallace (c. 1270-1305 CE)
Sir James Douglas - 'The Black Douglas' (c. 1286-1330 CE)
Bertrand du Guesclin - 'The Eagle of Brittany' (c. 1320-1380 CE)
Edward
of Woodstock - 'The Black Prince [of Wales]' (1330-1376 CE)
Sir
Henry Percy - 'Hotspur' (1364-1403 CE)
John
Storm is a hybrid character. A new breed of modern Knight, fighting to protect the
natural world and the archaeology that defines man's development, from
Tanzania, to the Moon and beyond. Storm's ace in the hole is the Elizabeth
Swann, the onboard
AI, Hal, and his enhanced performance via a brain implant and genetic
modification. Thus, just about keeping pace with what the market expects in
a modern world: A technological super secret agent. In this case, for Blue
Shield & UNESCO.
John
Storm is a new breed of British super hero, a modern Knight. Seen here with Dan Hawk, at the helm of the Elizabeth
Swann. The formidable high tech duo discover they have
no way to make it in the book or film world, but discover that they make
excellent comic characters, ideal for publication as graphic novels. George
Franks, mentor, is held to be a descendant of King Arthur, a knight of the
fabled Round Table. The Swann's onboard weapons early warning and targeting system
is called: Merlin. The laser cannon: Excalibur. And the tazer anti-piracy
boarding system: Pendragon.
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